What Else Are You Reading - August 2014

[Shad]

Finished Fool's Assassin as well. Here is my review.

Next, I'll return to Mistborn with The Hero of Ages.

[[deleted user]]

Finished yesterday:

That book's the perfect gateway novel for readers interested in starting Star Wars, AND for old readers who're easing into the new EU. It went a long way to reviving all the interest I lost in Star Wars after they scrapped the old EU.
Here's my full review

Time to finish up before the semester gets rolling, I think.

[Jared]

Currently I am trying to finish up with A Game of Thrones so I can move on to the Mallorean, which I am stoked to start. This have been a great journey with Martin, and I can't wait to see how this is all going to end.

[library_jim]

Finally getting to Christopher Moore's Lamb. Been on my TBR pile forever. I love him, I've met him but for some random reason I haven't read his most famous book. So I'm correcting that oversight now. BTW, the audio of A Dirty Job narrated by Fisher Stevens is fantastic.

[Warren]

Bookshelf wrote: "John Scalzi’s new book- Lock-In is due out next Tuesday.That should keep me busy for a few day."
The first 5 chapters:
http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/lo...

[Jenny (Reading Envy)]

I zipped through Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang yesterday. My review is here. I always love him, but didn't really mean to read it all in one setting!

[Tamahome]

And your head didn't explode!

[Rob, Roberator]

Time again for my weekend roundup:

I listened to books 2 & 3 of Dagger and Coin:
The King's Blood (My Review)
The Tyrant's Law (My Review)

I also finished reading the non-fiction book about the rise and fall of Sega in the 90s: Console Wars (My Review)

[Tamahome]

Checked out Gail Simone's political comic The Movement. review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Could be a good book club discussion.

[Walter]

Just finished Bird Box for another group.

Now reading The Time Traveler's Wife.

[Bryan]

Just finished The End is Nigh, an apocalyptic anthology.
My review.

[Eric]

Just started . Won it from Goodreads' FirstReads contest. About 1/4 into it. It's....interesting so far.

[Casey]

Just finished listening to The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker.
My review.

[John]

I just finished reading an old Fantasy from 1980 - Eric Van Lustbader's "Beneath an opal Moon" the fourth of his "Sunset Warrior Cycle" series. My review is here. It was OK. I think Lustbader does a better job with his Thrillers.

[Sandi]

ARGH! I have Audible pre-orders of Lock In and The Broken Eye being released tomorrow. How will I decide which to listen to first?

[Rob, Roberator]

Which version of Lock in?

[Sandi]

Rob wrote: "Which version of Lock in?"

I got the one narrated by Amber Benson. However, I got it at a time when they were offering both. I'm supposed to get a coupon code for the Wil Wheaton narration when the book is released. I hope they sync to each other.

[Rob, Roberator]

Yeah, same for me, but opposite. I'm glad to see someone is doing the Benson version. Everyone else I know doing the audio are doing the Wheaton version.

[Paolo]

Right now I'm:

70% into The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
58% into The Name of the Wind
49% into Ender's Game
7% into The Stand

(not touching The Stand again until I finish the other three books and I'm not planning to read anything else until I finish it. That's due to its length, epic scope, and because I've liked what I've read of it so far so much that I want to focus on it alone when I resume reading. What an excellent beginning to a novel.)

As for the other three: NotW > Wind-up Bird > Ender

The first part of Ender's Game is great, but towards the part where (view spoiler)[Ender becomes commander (hide spoiler)] I find myself starting to lose interest.

The (view spoiler)[Demosthenes & Locke (hide spoiler)] section of the book was a slightly jarring - yet interesting - shift, but I was really impressed by how Orson Scott Card accurately captured the concept and mechanics of today's (view spoiler)[online message boards (hide spoiler)] in that part of the book, considering it came out around 3 decades ago.

[terpkristin]

I'm listening to Clean Sweep right now in audio but just got my pre-order of The Broken Eye in Kindle and audible, so I'll probably work to finish Clean Sweep ASAP so I can jump into The Broken Eye and then into the September pick (which I have in Kindle and Audible but am still weary/leery of...).

And got some other books going on, just finished Troll Mountain: The Complete Novel and still listening to Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation when I have free time/when I need a break from SFF. :)

[[deleted user]]

Just started Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker. Already I like it much better than Dracula. I found the documentary evidence style of Dracula not to my taste. This is just told as a story.

Just finished The Goddess of Atvatabar: Being the History of the Discovery of the Interior World and Conquest of Atvatabar. Glad I read it. A bit travel adventure, a bit conquest, a bit of a statement on a good society all mixed together nicely.

[Sky]

finished 2 Novellas, Servant of the Crown (powdermage) and The Butcher of Anderson Station (churn), as well as Theft of Swords (The Riyria Revelations #1-2). I was expecting a bit more from Riyria given the hype, but i guess that is how it always goes. I did enjoy it and plan to continue with the series. I had planned to do The Mirror Empire next, followed by Lock In, but there is no audio yet for Mirror Empire that I can find, and I like to switch between text and audio for my ~90 minute daily drive to and from the office and the gym, so I may do Lock In first (Kindle + Wil Wheaton version)

[CatBookMom]

terpkristin wrote: "I'm listening to Clean Sweep right now in audio but just got my pre-order of The Broken Eye in Kindle and audible, so I'll probably work to finish Clean Sweep ASAP s..."

What are your thoughts on Clean Sweep? It's not available anywhere to read or listen for free that I can find, and I'm not (yet) enough of a fan of the author that I'm jumping to spend a credit on it.

[terpkristin]

CatBookMom wrote: "What are your thoughts on Clean Sweep? It's not available anywhere to read or listen for free that I can find, and I'm not (yet) enough of a fan of the author that I'm jumping to spend a credit on it."

The ideas in the story/world are interesting, I think the story's actually decent enough. But I'm not a fan of the narrator. I have no idea what race Deanna is supposed to be, but the narrator sounds like an old black woman from the deep south. It is just so incongruous with what is supposed to be the voice of a 23 year old woman from Texas...

[Paolo]

Brian wrote: "Taking a break from The Name of the Wind and starting Storm Front."

I just finished the Storm Front audiobook last week. That's a really fun book, and I hear that the series gets better as you go along (for the most part).

[Joseph]

Finished Caliban's War, read Gods of Risk (another interstitial story) and am about to start Abaddon's Gate, all by James S.A. Corey. These books are like popcorn.

[Lindsay]

Finished Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer and The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley.

Annihilation was weird and horrifying and I'll probably continue the series when the third one is published.

The Mirror Empire is an intricate and ambitious novel with two fantasy worlds on different planes coming to a cataclysmic merger. This one really pushes the fantastic world-building with several different cultures, alien fauna and a cool magic system. Also characteristically for the author quite brutally confronting. It might be a little too ambitious as even two thirds of the way through I was struggling to articulate what was happening, particularly given all the different POV characters.

I'm currently reading Ammonite by Nicola Griffith. I'm about a third of the way through and so far it's really good.

Next up is a toss-up between the new Ben Peek novel The Godless and City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett.

[Rob, Roberator]

Lindsay wrote: "The Mirror Empire is an intricate and ambitious novel with two fantasy worlds on different planes coming to a cataclysmic merger. This one really pushes the fantastic world-building with several different cultures, alien fauna and a cool magic system. Also characteristically for the author quite brutally confronting. It might be a little too ambitious as even two thirds of the way through I was struggling to articulate what was happening, particularly given all the different POV characters."

Yeah, I'm reading that with some people in another group and I'm dying to jump into the discussion threads because there is already a lot going on right at the beginning.

[Dara]

Finished Ship of Magic last night. I really enjoyed it (My review).

Moving on to The Mirror Empire.

[Dharmakirti]

I'm going to have to move The Mirror Empire up my list and maybe tackle it next. The comments I'm seeing about it make me very intrigued.

[Keidy]

Geez. Is everyone reading The Mirror Empire right now? I never thought of it as an anticipated read until I kept seeing people were gonna read it.

[Sky]

There is another (not a) book club group that we are all reading Mirror Empire in right now :)

[Keidy]

Ah! Well that explains that. Well thanks a lot you guys. I've put another book on my already too long wish list just for sheer curiosity. ^_^;

[Michele]

I've started listening to Lock In (the Wil Wheaton version), it took me a couple chapters to really get into it, but now I'm very hooked. Anyone listening to Amber Benson read it? Curious if you like her, I haven't heard her voice. I like Wil's reading, especially of Scalzi's stuff, but I do wish he'd vary his voice a little more for each character.

Not reading anything with my eyes ATM, trying to decide what's next.

[AndrewP]

Last night I finished Mud, Sweat and Tears which was excellent for an autobiography.

Just started Stories of Your Life and Others, 75% into The Hundred-Foot Journey and Going Postal.

[Sandi]

Michele wrote: "I've started listening to Lock In (the Wil Wheaton version), it took me a couple chapters to really get into it, but now I'm very hooked. Anyone listening to Amber Benson read it? C..."

I bought the Amber Benson version and got a download code to get the Wil Wheaton version too. I might alternate between the two. Hopefully, they'll Whispersync to locations. Strangely enough, the Amber Benson version is an hour longer than the Wil Wheaton version. My big complaint about him has been that he talks too fast and sounds rushed. I guess this proves my hunch was right.

Either way, Lock In is going to have to wait until I finish listening to The Broken Eye by Brent Weeks. I've been waiting a long time for this book to be released and that's what I'm going to listen to first.

In text, I'm reading Imago by Octavia Butler, the third book in the Exogenesis Trilogy.

[Sky]

Sandi wrote: "Michele wrote: "Strangely enough, the Amber Benson version is an hour longer than the Wil Wheaton version. My big complaint about him has been that he talks too fast and sounds rushed. I guess this proves my hunch was right."

Funny, I am listening to the Wil Wheaton version at 1.5 speed because it feels too slow :)

[Roger]

Finally getting to Fool's Assassin and quite enjoying it.

[Casey]

Just finished Lev Grossman's The Magician's Land .
My review.

I can't decide if I should just finish what I'm already reading or start something else. I'm in the mood for new territory, but I hate to let unfinished books linger too long.

[Bryan]

I've started the last book in Jack Womack's criminally underread Dryco series, Going, Going, Gone. Already it's funny, brilliant, and hard to stop reading.

[Kristina]

Working on Spirit's End... having a hard time putting it down. Each book in this series is better than the last. My copy of The Broken Eye just showed today, so that's definately next.

[Lawrence]

Going with the classics right now, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea

[Joel]

Just finished Ready Player One. Super enjoyed it. Now starting Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

[Bryan]

Lawrence wrote: "Going with the classics right now, 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea"
What do you make of it so far?
It was the first novel I read.

[David Sven]

Finished Joe Abercrombie's Half a King on Audible
My review

Starting The Emperors Blades also on Audible

[Melissa]

Currently about 60% of the way through The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman and I must say that I am enjoying it. After that, it will be on to Sleeping Late on Judgement Day by Tad Williams. I guess that one will be September...

[[deleted user]]

Currently I'm juggling three anthologies:



Reach for Infinity is a hard SF one, it's been top notch so far. 14 stories, and I'm three in.

Jagannath I'm going to be reading along with Matt over at Books, Brains and Beer, read some of her stuff previously and I like it.

Fearsome Magics had Jonathan Strahan on the cover, which was good enough for me. Not very impressed by the stories I've read so far, though, the best has been, oddly enough, a humorous one from K.J. Parker.

[John]

Finished reading Eric Van Lustbader's Fantasy "Dragon on the sea of Night" a couple of days ago. It is the 5th in the "Sunset Warrior Cycle", and it is better than the prior book. I guess that 34 years of experience between books 4 and 5 make a big difference!

[Joseph]

John wrote: "Finished reading Eric Van Lustbader's Fantasy "Dragon on the sea of Night" a couple of days ago. It is the 5th in the "Sunset Warrior Cycle", and it is better than the prior book. I guess that 34 y..."

I didn't even realize there was a new one; interesting ... That was always a series that I enjoyed more in conception than in actuality.

[[deleted user]]

Finished:


Some good stuff, some bad, some that doesn't belong.
Full review here.

Time to finish up: